Emma Starling comes home to a small village in New Hampshire because her father Clive is dying and she really should check on her brother Auggie after his second stay in rehab. She's been astray for a while and living back in Everton with her family seems wise. Once there she finds that her high school best friend is missing and the only person looking for her is her retired poetry professor father. Because of the opioid crisis, the two police officers don't feel it's worth their time. The book's narrators in the Maple Street Cemetery are practically omniscient and their commentary lets you in on the village's secrets while also witnessing the longings of the dead. In Unlikely Animals, Harnett has done what she does best: create a brilliant cast of messy human beings that you don't want to leave. With a hand-drawn map, a menagerie of animals (a fox, a dog, a goat), and beautiful prose, this book is perfect.